How Much! In Defence of Microsoft
By Moshe Zeidman in Reader
Posted in SME, Microsoft on January 31, 2008 at 10:12 am
One of the most annoying questions asked of IT professionals apart from the ubiquitous “How long will it take?” must be, “How much?” In truth, we are irritated by these two words because they are more a statement than question. What is implied is “where is the value in that?”
Clearly, any business outlay must be justifiable in terms of the benefit derived, but it is the perception of benefit which can often be missed. This fact hit home recently when a client of mine, a medium-sized firm of accountants, required an upgrade of their Office software. Most of their 70 staff were still using Microsoft Office 2000, and for a number of reasons they needed to upgrade. In this instance, the cost of an upgrade was in excess of £15,000.
The firm’s last investment in bulk licensing with Microsoft Office was in 2001. I do not know the outlay at that time, but over a seven-year period, £2000 a year does not seem to be too unreasonable for a business of its size -bearing in mind that Excel spreadsheets are the lifeblood of an accountancy practice. If one takes into consideration the amount paid to other software suppliers of accounting specific applications, then again this seems reasonable.
Interestingly, what sold the concept of an upgrade, even at such a large expense, was not the raft of new features added over a period of six to seven years, nor was it possible productivity/presentational gains offered by the ribbon interface of Office 2007, rather a much more subtle benefit which needed to be highlighted.
For these accountants, there was a worry that as their clients upgraded PCs with the latest Office software, increasingly they would receive documents and spreadsheets which they would not be able to read. In their case, an upgrade was needed to avoid the potential embarrassment caused by such a situation.
On this point you may rightly counter ” Well, isn’t the change of document format a convenient way for Microsoft to generate new sales?”. I would have to concede this point. However, if you look at other software products, rightly or wrongly, with each release of a new database prior versions become eventually obsolete forcing an upgrade. The bottom line is, being in the sync with one’s clients is a business benefit.
With Office 2007, Microsoft’s “database” changed, and perhaps it is a bit unfair to single out the Redmond giant for criticism.
Rated: 100% (2 votes)
Loading ...Comment by Bill Maslen - February 1, 2008 on 9:27 am
You see, speaking as an SMB IT Manager, I have to laugh rather bitterly when I see this kind of article. An accountancy firm is in an ideal position to benefit from a migration to something like OpenOffice (which has most, if not all, of the benefits of Microsoft Office both in terms of scripting, power and SharePoint-style solutions - e.g. o3spaces - and indeed, also has a spreadsheet that actually works properly, unlike Excel (have you spoken to Jon Honeyball recently?!)). But Microsoft has changed the gameplan again, by introducing new document formats, and you journalists continue, as usual, to go along with this and praise the “ribbon toolbar” to the skies or give them “best office software” awards. £15,000 is a mind-boggling amount of money to spend on office software nowadays - it’s equivalent to a receptionist’s salary, for goodness’ sake. And what’s the main reason? Because of the potential embarrassment of not being able to read files. How’s that for lock-in? A more critical stance from journalists would do much to counter the invidious tactics of firms like Microsoft, who have long ceased to rely on mere technical excellence to penetrate their markets.
Make a comment
Tag cloud
Most commented posts
- Do Kids Really Learn at School?
6 comments
- M&S Bras, Woolly Jumpers, and IT Professionals
- Ahhh, the Wonders of Technology!
- Google Vs. Microsoft - Office Politics
- Financial Turmoil, Recession, and Successful Business
- Sage Software - The Big Sell
- Who is Responsible for the Data Loss?
- What Are Your New Year IT Resolutions?
- How Much! In Defence of Microsoft
- Sage's Self-Accounting
Highest Rated Blog Posts
- Do Kids Really Learn at School? (100%)
- How Much! In Defence of Microsoft (100%)
- Power Cuts and Programming (100%)
- What Are Your New Year IT Resolutions? (100%)
- Microsoft and Yahoo! What’s the end game? (100%)
- Microsoft’s Answer to the Google Challenge (100%)
- Ahhh, the Wonders of Technology! (100%)
- Goodbye XP... Ten Days to Go (100%)
- Google Vs. Microsoft - Office Politics (100%)
- 'Not the Nine O'Clock News' and IT Support (100%)